Novocastrian Russell to make SuperUtes debut

Part of Nissan Motorsport's 2018 PIRTEK Enduro Cup line-up, Aaren Russell will make his ECB SuperUtes Series debut in Newcastle later this month.

Russell will steer the #87 factory-backed Mitsubishi Triton at his home event, the Coates Hire Newcastle 500 on November 23-25.

In doing so, he becomes the year's sixth driver for Team Triton, which has rotated its line-up through 2018.

The 27-year-old teamed up with Andre Heimgartner at Nissan through the Supercars enduros, winning Sandown's ARMOR ALL Race for the Grid for co-drivers.

The pair ultimately finished 14th, 16th and 19th in the three completed races, Russell's third Enduro Cup.

Russell raced a Supercar in Newcastle last year with Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport, and is understood to have opted against pairing his SuperUtes outing with a Dunlop Super2 Series drive.

"I'm always up for new challenges and with the Supercars Enduro season finishing and with Newcastle being my home track I wanted to drive something," said Russell.

"The SuperUtes have looked unique over the year and it's an opportunity to get in something different and give it a crack and see how we go."

Completing the Team Triton line-up for the Newcastle finale is Michael Sieders in its #45 entry.

After a violent wreck in his first outing at Queensland Raceway, Sieders returned at Sandown, claiming a maiden victory in the reverse-grid second leg.

He also contested the Bathurst and Gold Coast rounds and is 10th in the standings.

"[I'm] really excited to head to Newcastle for the second time," said Sieders, who will be contesting his fifth SuperUtes round.

"I had a strong performance there last year [in V8 Utes] and I'm looking forward to putting on a really good show and grabbing some results for our sponsors that have been awesome this year.

"It has been tough and hopefully we can put it on the top step."